‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ Buzzes to $76 Million Opening at Box Office

Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man and the Wasp” has taken the No. 1 spot at the box office this weekend, hitting the middle portion of independent tracker projections with an $76 million opening from 4,206 screens.
While this is the lowest opening for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film since the first “Ant-Man,” it’s still an improvement over that 2015 predecessor. “Ant-Man” opened to $57.2 million making this result for “Wasp” a 33 percent boost over that figure. The film has an A- on CinemaScore and an 86 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Globally, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” has a $161 million start, launching in Korea with a $20.9 million opening weekend with China and most of Europe still to come. Unlike most other Marvel releases, “Wasp” will have a steady overseas rollout to give the film distance from Disney’s other current release, “Incredibles 2,” as well as to dodge competition from the final stages of the FIFA World Cup. IMAX contributed $10 million to the global total, with $6 million coming from domestic screens.
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In a narrow race for second are “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” and “Incredibles 2,” with the Pixar film holding the edge with $29 million in its fourth weekend. As we noted yesterday, “Incredibles 2” is now the highest-grossing animated film on the domestic charts and the first animated film to gross over $500 million in North America.
“Incredibles 2” is also $29 million away from passing “Rogue One” and becoming one of the top ten highest grossing films in North American history. “Jurassic World,” meanwhile, crossed the $1 billion global mark on Friday and now has a domestic total of $333 million after making $28 million in its third weekend.
Overseas, “Fallen Kingdom” has grossed $725 million, with China contributing $250 million, to give the film a total of $1.05 billion. International audiences are contributing a greater share of “Fallen Kingdom”‘s total than they did for the first “Jurassic World,” with a 69 percent revenue share compared to 61 percent for the 2015 film, which grossed $1.67 billion worldwide.
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In fourth is Universal’s “The First Purge,” which opened on Wednesday to get some space from “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” The horror prequel has earned a five-day opening of $31 million, hitting tracker projections and once again rewarding Blumhouse’s thrifty spending strategy with a reported budget of $13 million. While the series’ previous installment, “The Purge: Election Year,” made $31 million from a traditional weekend launch, a lower figure for “First Purge” was expected considering the tougher competition at cinemas.
Last week’s releases, Sony’s “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” and Lionsgate’s “Uncle Drew” take fifth and sixth place, respectively. “Soldado” has a $35 million ten-day total after grossing $7.6 million this weekend, a 60 percent drop from its $19 million opening. “Uncle Drew” adds $6.5 million to bring its total to $29.8 million.